Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 20-11-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 20-11-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Covid-19 – India’s Covid count hits 9mn, rise slowest since 1st million – India has become the second country in the world after the US to record nine million Covid-19 cases. On the brighter side, it took 22 days for the tally to increase from the eight-million mark, making it the second slowest rise of one million infections in the country and reflecting the slowdown in the pandemic in recent weeks. The grim milestone was reached on November 19, when India recorded 46,260 cases, taking the total to 90,03,800. This was the highest daily tally in 8 days, in part due to a rise in testing that had fallen sharply in recent days. The day’s death toll, at 589, was highest in 14 days. The last one-million rise in 22 days means the spread in the country has halved since the pandemic’s peak in mid-September, when it took just 11 days for cases to go from four million to five million. Only the first one million cases took more days than the last million.
2. Covid-19 – 12% India cases among those under 20: Unicef – Nearly 12% of Covid-19 infections in India are among children and adolescents under 20 whereas globally, they accounted for 11% of infections, a new report by Unicef analysing data from 87 countries showed, underlining that the pandemic may have impacted the health of children and young people more directly than originally anticipated. Besides, disruptions to essential services such as education, healthcare, nutrition and child protection interventions were also harming children. In India, 1.5 million school closures have impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary education and 28 million children who were attending preschool education in anganwadi centres. Globally, 90% of children were impacted due to school closure because of Covid-19, including 743 million girls. More than 111 million of them are in the least developed countries.
3. Law & Constitution – Mere WhatsApp chats not evidence of drug peddling: NDPS court – Granting bail to an Australian architect arrested by the NCB, a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court has held that, at this stage, his WhatsApp messages with a co-accused are not substantial and sufficient to hold that he was a drug peddler. Paul Bartels was arrested for alleged procurement and consumption of contraband. While officials did not find any contraband in his Santacruz flat, they claimed to have come across his WhatsApp chats allegedly discussing drugs. This is the case the NCB has been probing in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The court further said that in case, in the future, cogent material is collected by the NCB, demonstrating Bartels’s role as a peddler or supplier of drugs, then the scenario would be different.
4. Polity & Governance – Tainted Bihar edu min gets marching orders 2hrs after taking charge – Bihar’s new education minister Mewalal Choudhary, an accused in a recruitment scam during his tenure as vicechancellor of Bihar Agricultural University from 2010 to 2015, resigned within two hours of assuming charge on November 19, becoming the shortest-serving minister in the state. His induction in the cabinet three days ago had triggered a sustained criticism by the opposition led by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s RJD, reminding CM Nitish Kumar of his “zero-tolerance policy” on corruption. Building construction department minister Ashok Choudhary has been given the additional charge of education.
5. Economy – Moody’s narrows FY21 GDP outlook to 10.6% contraction – Moody’s Investors Service has revised its GDP projection for India in 2020-21 to a 10.6% contraction compared with a 11.5% drop it had estimated. The rating agency also marginally raised its forecast for 2021-22 GDP growth to 10.8%, from 10.6%. Consumer confidence remains relatively low amid a continued elevated number of daily new COVID-19 cases, although this has come down from a peak in September. Estimates from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy show that unemployment remains high, although both urban and rural unemployment rates have recovered from peaks in April and May during the nationwide lockdown,” Moody’s noted. Moody’s termed the Centre’s November 12 package of stimulus measures ‘credit positive.’
6. Economy – ‘Investments in data centres grow to $396 mn’ – Data centres in India are emerging as an alternative real estate asset and have attracted investments of $396 million from January to September 2020. The report — Navigating the India Data Centre Lifecycle – Trends & Perspectives — noted that data centres are now the hottest alternative real estate asset and with focus shifting to large hyperscale developments, the underlying property is becoming more valuable. Approximately $9.5 billion of capital is in various stages of being announced, committed or waiting to be committed into Indian data centres. At least 28 large hyperscale data centres are expected in India over the next 3 years. Mumbai has remained the most popular location for data centres given the undersea cable landings.  
7. Economy – Oxford Economics cuts India’s 2020-25 growth average to 4.5% – Global forecasting firm Oxford Economics has revised downwards its India growth forecast over the medium term to an average 4.5% over 2020-25, from its pre-pandemic projection of 6.5%. It said India’s post-COVID-19 scars could be among the worst in the world. It said an adequate and well-designed fiscal stimulus would halve this impact by limiting deterioration in pre-COVID-19 headwinds.
8. Economy – Drop in wind speed hurts green power – The share of renewables in India’s energy mix came down marginally to 10.7% in the September quarter from 11.4% in the year-earlier period. The prominent reason for the decline was the unseasonable and sharp reduction in wind speeds in the resource-rich States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. The reduction led to a 41% decline in wind generation in July compared to the same month in 2019. The September quarter typically records the highest wind energy generation every year.
9. World – Riyadh to invest $20 bn in AI by 2030 – Saudi Arabia has announced it will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence projects by 2030, as the oil-rich country seeks to diversify its economy amid slumping crude prices. The kingdom launched an artificial intelligence strategy in October 2020 as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious “Vision 2030” plan to wean the kingdom off oil.
10. Business – Sebi seeks SC direction for 2 Sahara cos to pay ₹63k cr – The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to Subrata Roy’s two Sahara Group companies to pay up the remainder of the amount directed to be deposited by the apex court in 2012. With interest this amount has ballooned to Rs 62,600 crore. Accusing the two companies — linked to housing and real estate — of repeatedly breaching assurances on compliance of court orders, the markets regulator said the contemnors should be taken into custody if they failed to deposit the money. The SC had earlier sent Roy to jail, where he remained for three years before grant of bail, for committing contempt of court by not depositing the funds. In August 2012, the SC had ordered Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation to deposit with Sebi the entire funds raised through OFCDs in 2008 and 2009, along with interest, within three months. Sebi was also tasked to refund the money to investors after due verification. Giving detailed accounts, the application has said that around Rs 10,300 crore of the principal amount due from the group is yet to be deposited. After levying 15% interest, in line with the apex court’s order of August 2012, the amount added up to over Rs 62,600 crore.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	SBI	Apprentice	8500	Any Degree	DEC-10-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/sbi-online/20638/#Apprentice
2	ESIC, New Delhi	Specialist Gr II (Jr Grade)	15	PG	DEC-24-2020	https://www.esic.nic.in/attachments/recruitmentfile/d531803693ebd37c5fb252c1a2581b0b.pdf
3	CECRI	Pro. Asso. - I, II, SRF, JRF	5	B.E, B.Tech (Chem. Eng.), M.Sc, PhD	DEC-1-2020	https://www.cecri.res.in/Portals/0/Careers/PS-05-2020_AdvtCopy.pdf
4	National Metallurgical Lab.	Pro. Asso.-I, II, Pro. Scientist, Pro. Assistant	49	B.Sc, Dip. (Engg), B. Tech, PG, PhD	DEC-3-2020	B.Sc, Diploma (Engg), B Tech, PG, Ph.D
5	East Central Railway	Contract Medical Practitioner, GDMO	5	MBBS, Diploma, MD, MS	DEC-7-2020	https://ecr.indianrailways.gov.in/cris//uploads/files/1605683885406-signed%20notification.pdf
6	A&N Union Territory Health Mission	GDMO, Medical Officer, Consultant	18	Deg, MBBS, PG Deg	23, 24 & 25-11-2020 – Walk in	https://www.andaman.gov.in/admin-pannel/whatsnew/1-232-Vacancy%20Notice%20Publication%20under%20NHM%20.pdf
7	SSA, Assam	Assam Secondary TET 2020	-	PG, B.Ed	NOV-30-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/assam-tet/87751/#SecondaryTET-2020

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 Supreme Court wants a mechanism to deal with fake news

 

Highlights –

 

• The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to provide information on the existing legal regime to deal with complaints about the content on television channels and said that the government should consider setting up a regulatory mechanism to do this if one doesn’t already exist.
• The court also expressed displeasure with an affidavit filed by the Centre highlighting the various advisories issued time to time to curb fake news.
• Background and other details –
• The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and other parties, who objected to the reporting by certain television news channels and news portals on the Tablighi Jamaat event in March.
• After the religious gathering, the Nizamuddin markaz — where it was held — emerged as one of the early hot spots of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the national capital.
• On October 8, when the court last heard the PIL, the bench asked the Centre to file a response on steps taken to ensure fake news is not circulated through online and electronic media platforms.
• The government, through the ministry of information and broadcasting, filed an affidavit on November 13 and cited its advisories. But, the court found the affidavit unsatisfactory.
• This was the second affidavit the government filed in response to the PIL. An earlier affidavit by the Union Government on August 6 was also found to be short of details when it comes to action taken against erring websites and news channels for fake news.
• Freedom of speech is one of the most abused freedoms of recent times – the court observed on October 8.
• Mr.Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, informed the court that the November 13 affidavit is sufficient and answers all queries by the court. However, he agreed to supplement it with the fresh information sought by the court. Mehta said that the Centre has power to prohibit content on television channels, which are found to be violative of a programme code.
• Advocate Ejaz Maqbool, appearing for the Jamiat Ulama i-Hind, agreed to file a response to the Centre’s affidavit. The court posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.
• The latest affidavit of the Centre said that media outlets at large – both print and online — have responsibly covered the event.
• The Centre accused the petitioner of picking out some news reports to seek pre-telecast ban on airing of content.

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• 2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper

2.1 Not Available Today

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

3.1 Not Available Today

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

4.1 Reciprocal Access Agreement

 

Highlights –

• Australia and Japan have taken a major step towards signing a long-awaited defence pact which will enable both countries to intensify military cooperation in the face of rising tensions with China.
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced an "in-principle agreement" on the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) after holding their first face-to-face meeting in Tokyo.
• The pact was signed because of concerns that the Chinese Communist Party party was exhibiting increased belligerence especially over the South China Sea region, "including militarization of disputed features, and dangerous coercive use of coast guard vessels."
• The Reciprocal Access Agreement has been worked on for the past six years.
• It provides the legal framework for Australian forces in Japan and vice-versa.
• Issues over Japan's death penalty had stalled negotiations.
• It marks a significant milestone for Japan, which has not struck a pact on a foreign military presence since the Status of Forces Agreement it signed with the United States 60 years ago.
• Officials believe the agreement will help facilitate cooperation between the two countries, including in the increasingly contested waters of the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
• China has vast territorial claims in both seas which are disputed by Japan and numerous South-East Asian countries.

Concerns over death penalty –

• During negotiations over the past six years, a major sticking point had been ensuring Australian troops who commit a serious crime in Japan would not face the death penalty.
• The issue of foreign troops committing crimes is politically sensitive in Japan due to high profile cases of murder, rape, assault and other offences committed by American forces stationed in Okinawa since the end of World War II.

 4.2 Joe Biden elected 46th President of United States

• Joe Biden of Democratic Party has defeated incumbent Donald Trump of Republican Party to become the 46th President of United States after winning more than 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. Kamala Harris became first woman Vice President.
• The US president is elected for a four-year term. The US law allows a maximum of two terms as President.
• The total number of Electoral College votes is 538 and the candidate who gets 270 is declared winner. The number of Electoral College votes from each state is different and depends on the population. California: 55 and Texas: 38 are the top two states.
• Others are: Colorado: 9, Connecticut: 7, Delaware: 3, D.C. (District of Columbia): 3, Hawaii: 4, Illinois: 20, Maine: 3, Maryland: 10, Massachusetts: 11, Minnesota: 10, Nevada: 6, New Hampshire: 4, New Jersey: 14, New Mexico: 5, New York: 29, Oregon: 7, Rhode Island: 4, Vermont: 3, Virginia: 13, Washington: 12, Alabama: 9, Alaska: 3, Arizona: 11, Arkansas: 6, Florida: 29, Georgia: 16, Idaho: 4, Indiana: 11, Iowa: 6, Kansas: 6, Kentucky: 8, Louisiana: 8, Michigan: 16, Mississippi: 6, Missouri: 10, Montana: 3, Nebraska; 5, North Carolina: 15, North Dakota: 3, Ohio; 18, Oklahoma: 7, Pennsylvania: 20, South Carolina: 9, South Dakota: 3, Tennessee: 11, Utah: 6, West Virginia: 5, Wisconsin: 10, Wyoming: 3.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

5.1 Not Available Today

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Round-up - Sports 

• The Sports Ministry has approved six centres as the Khelo India Centre of Excellence (KISCE) and they will now be upgraded at a consolidated budget estimate of Rs 67.32 crore for FY 2020-21 and subsequent four years in an effort to identify and groom Olympic level talent. The States of Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim and Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, have been identified in the second leg.  
• World & Olympic medallist Gagan Narang has set up a high-performance shooting centre at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, in collaboration with the Odisha government and the Aditya Birla Group. The centre aims to offer fully funded training scholarship to 200 children in the age group of 11-14 years.
• Long-time former Australia swimming coach Don Talbot passed away aged 87 on November 3, He was Australia’s head swimming coach during its peak in the 1990s and 2000s — including at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Australia won winning 18 medals.
• Russia’s Daniil Medvedev won men’s singles title at Paris Masters tennis on November 8, 2020 by defeating Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.
• India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Sebastian Korda of US in the final of the €88,520 Challenger tennis tournament in Eckental (Germany) on November 8, 2020.
• Arianne Hartono (Ned) & Yuriko Lily Miyazaki (Jpn) won the women’s doubles title at the $15,000 ITF women tennis tournament in Lousada, Portugal on November 8, 2020.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Centre is not allowed to extend CBI’s jurisdiction without State’s consent

 

 

 Highlights –

• The SC has ruled that the CBI cannot step into an investigation without the consent of state governments and the centre cannot extend the agency's jurisdiction to any state without permission either.
• The ruling becomes significant with eight opposition-ruled states - Rajasthan, Bengal, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Mizoram -- cancelling blanket consent for CBI probes in their states.
• SC judges AM Khanwilkar and BR Gavai referred to the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act that regulates the CBI or Central Bureau of Investigation.
• The apex court's verdict was on appeals challenging a judgment passed by the Allahabad High Court in August 2019 in a case involving Fertico Marketing and Investment Private Limited.
• A surprise raid by the CBI in the factory premises of Fertico found that the coal it had bought under the Fuel Supply Agreement with Coal India Limited was allegedly sold in the black market. The CBI had registered a case.
• Two state officials were also found to be involved in the case. The officials had argued that the general consent given by the state government was not enough and separate permission was required if they were to be investigated.
• The Allahabad HC had noted that the Uttar Pradesh government had retroactively granted consent against the two government officials, who were later named in a charge-sheet, and that was sufficient.

Key notes –

• Though Section 5 enables the Central Government to extend the powers and jurisdiction of Members of the DSPE (CBI) beyond the Union Territories to a state, the same is not permissible unless, a state grants its consent for such an extension within the area of state concerned under Section 6 of the DSPE Act.
• Several opposition-ruled states have withdrawn general consent to the CBI to investigate cases, alleging that the BJP-led government at the centre is misusing the agency to harass political opponents.
• The move means the CBI cannot carry out investigations in these states without seeking permission every time.

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)

8.1 UN releases $100 million to protect against famine

 

Highlights –

• The UN has released USD 100 million in emergency funding to seven countries at risk of famine in Africa and the Middle East amid conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• $80 million of the money will go to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
• Another USD 20 million has been set aside for anticipatory action to fight hunger in Ethiopia, where deadly fighting erupted this month in its rebellious northern Tigray region.
• If an immediate action is not taken, famine could be a reality in the coming months in parts of Burkina Faso, northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.
• This would be the first time famine has been declared since 2017 in parts of South Sudan.
• The U.N said the money will target the most vulnerable, especially women, girls and people with disabilities.

The money breaks down as follows –

• $15 million to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso $6 million, Congo $7 million, northeastern Nigeria $15 million, South Sudan $7 million and Yemen $30 million.
• All the countries have been destabilised by conflict or extremist attacks.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)

9.1 Param Siddhi achieves 63rd rank in list of most powerful supercomputers in world

  

Key points –  

• India’s newest and fastest supercomputer, PARAM-Siddhi AI, has been ranked 63rd in the Top500 list of most powerful supercomputers in the world.
• The supercomputer was established earlier in 2020, under the National Supercomputer Mission (NSM) and is going to be installed in the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing’s (C-DAC) unit.
• The Top500 project tracks the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and is published twice a year.
• PARAM-Siddhi is the second Indian supercomputer to be entered in the top 100 on the Top500 list.
• Pratyush, a supercomputer used for weather forecasting at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, ranked 78th on the November edition of the list.
• Another Indian supercomputer, Mihir (146th on the list), clubs with Pratyush to generate enough computing power to match PARAM-Siddhi.

Important details –

• While the new supercomputer is significantly faster than Pratyush, delivering 6.5 petaflops of power, it is far behind the leaders in the list.
• Japanese supercomputer Fugaku (442 petaflops) and IBM’s Summit (148.8 petaflops) are the two most powerful supercomputers in the world.
• Chinese Sunway TaihuLight is number four on the list (93 petaflops), developed by the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology (NRCPC) in China.
• The computer is expected to be used as a platform for academia, scientific research, startups and more.
• The supercomputer was commissioned by the C-DAC earlier and has been developed in association with chipmaker Nvidia and French IT consulting firm Atos.

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• 10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)

10.1 Not Available Today

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• International Nurses Day celebrated on May 12, 2020  was 200th Birth Anniversary of Florence Nightingale.
• Well-known Cartoonist Sudhir Dhar died in Nov 2019 at the age of 87 in New Delhi.
• Uddhav Thackeray is the Third from Shiv Sena to become Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
• Lionel Messi won the 2019 Ballon d'Or for Men.
• Suniel Shetty was appointed as the brand ambassador of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

10.3 Today's best editorials to read

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

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